Gluten Free Fish and Chips

January 06, 2016

It's cod season in Alaska and we just picked up some beautiful fillets last week. Cod is one of our favorite fish because it's extremely versatile and delicious. It can be grilled, poached, steamed, sauteed, and makes out of this world fish and chips. We usually use Panko for our fish and chips, but Iris is on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet, so that was out.
The gluten free flour blends are very expensive, so I usually make my own. With a pantry full of funky flours, I figured there must be something that would work for gluten free fish and chips! The dry ingredients included brown rice flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder.

I found a recipe online and made a few changes based on what we had on hand. Iris and I made the batter, and Mike did the frying.Add the wet mixture (egg and sparkling water) to the dry mixture slowly until you get the right consistency. We started with a 1/2 cup of water, then added another 1/2 cup. It probably would have been better with 1/4 cup added instead, but Iris was eager to use the whole measuring cup full.

A friend of ours works at a local fish processing plant gave us these "C-pearls" to try. They're cod cheeks! Clever name, huh? He's not a fan of cod, but loves c-pearls. Halibut cheeks are a delicacy and he claimed the c-pearls were better and less stringy. We fried them up too and they are excellent. If we can get our hands on some more, we might do a special c-pearl promotion. They would be great (much less expensive) substitute for scallops too.These gluten free fish and chips using our wild Alaska cod turned out excellent. Not only did Iris love them, but Mike, a tough critic after all his commercial fishing, loved them too. Iris especially enjoyed the fried, bite sized, c-pearls. Success!

GLUTEN FREE FISH AND CHIPS

INGREDIENTS

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 tbsp aluminium free baking powder
1½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 cup sparkling water
1 egg, beaten
½ cup rice flour for coating
Olive oil or other oil with a high flash point for frying

PREPARATION

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, mix the soda water and egg and combine with the flour mixture.
Whisk until you get a smooth batter.
Coat the fish fillets with the rice flour, shaking off excess.
Dip the fish into the batter, letting excess drip off.
Fry in preheated coconut oil for 4-6 minutes until crispy. Make sure to move the pieces around a little bit in the pan while frying.
Dry on paper towel to remove excess oil before serving.

Recipe adapted from Alessandra Edwards: Radiant Health From Within